Five Things to Watch
1. Another Week, another test. It's another test (and the toughest one to date) for the Red Riders this week as the Copley Indians come to town. Copley returns talent but had some key losses on both sides of their line, very similar to Orrville.

In lots of situations, Orrville beats teams by simply being more talented, we've done it for decades. That's not the case this week as Copley will match the Riders talent, and it may come down to which teams executes the best.

2. Indian Ground Game. Copley returns a talented backfield led by quarterback Lou Gigliotti and running back Aregeros Turner. Turner has 400 yards rushing on the season and is averaging nearly 10 yards per carry. He and Gigliotti will pose the first legit run threat this Orrville defense has faced all season.

They can throw the ball, but their first option is to run it, and they have two very good options in which to do so.

3. Cousins Do Battle. Orrville senior Drew Brenner and Copley senior RJ Karam (#21) are cousins and will most likely guard each other at times throughout the game. Will be interesting to see how those two matchup.

4. Game Keys. I think this game comes down to which defense can step up and take the opposing offense out of what they want to do. Copley is clearly a team that wants to run the football and Orrville likes to do a little of both. I think the Riders have the ability to put up another big night on the (brand new) scoreboard, but Copley will get it's share too. Which defense can make stops and create turnovers will go a long way to deciding a winner.

5. Points Game. In my mind, it's never too early to start talking playoffs, and the winner of this game will help themselves a great deal as we start winding toward the midpoint of the season. Last year's win over Orrville saved Copley's season. Looking back, Copley doesn't even MAKE THE PLAYOFFS if they lose to Orrville, that's how big a deal this game is. It's only week 3, but this game will have post-season implications.

That's it....should be a fun one. Sure stung after this game last year. The Riders had all the chances in the world, but the turnover bug got them. Can't give good teams 5 turnovers and live to tell about it.

We continue to give the ball away and kill drives with penalties, and that can't continue. I said last year...some of these things can be chalked up as mistakes, but after it happens over and over, it becomes your identity.

We have the opportunity to be scary good in our division and this is just the kind of game that will tell us a lot about what kind of team we have this year.

I'm thinking Orrville's got a little more firepower than Copley this year, and agree with the 10 point prediction.

We might even see a little Akron Beacon Journal coverage this week with Copley the opponent. Hopefully they remember how to get to Wayne County.

Fantastic50.net
Wanted to again point out the great work done by College of Wooster professor Drew Pasteur at his Fantastic50.net site. He ranks all the teams in Ohio by a complex mathematical equation and his predictions are right about 75% of the time.

He's got Orrville as the #5 team in Division 4 and the #1 overall team in Region 13, and is projecting at 60% odds, our chances of winning anywhere from 8-10 games this season. As of right now, he projects us to play Tuslaw in the first round of the playoffs. Translated: He thinks we're good.

Copley Site
I think I mentioned this last year, but for more detail on Copley Football, head over the CopleyIndiansFootball.org. It's really a well done site.

New Scoreboard
Last but not least....keep an eye on the north end of the stadium for the new scoreboard. Should be fully operational. Really excited to be helping out with running the graphics part of the new board, and hope to have interesting content up there before kickoff and during the game.

Thanks again to the anonymous donor who helped make this, otherwise unattainable project, a reality.